Funny thing about that protein…

Here’s a funny thing about eating food with nutritional value. It works!

No… really! I’m serious!! When you eat food with nutritional value, i.e. protein, you really have more energy.

Sure, we hear over and over about eating a well balanced diet, but sometimes it’s not that easy to do.

Life takes over… and while I always have ‘snacks’ with me, those snacks could be considered healthy. But, there’s a reason they’re snacks and not meals. They don’t really satisfy for long periods of time. And if you just eat snacks for long enough, you’ll feel it. I know! It happened to me.

I’ve been super stressed at work. In at 6:30 or 7am and out around 7pm, with very few breaks in between, including lunch breaks.

In the past couple of days I have been dragging my tush and have been far from a pleasant person to be around. Even my yoga mat hasn’t liked me very much. Ok, that’s not really true, but I certainly haven’t been a good friend to my mat. I try to practice…I start strong and focused with the intention of really calming my mind and breathing. And then, at about the 35 minute mark, the alarm in my brain goes off and it’s a struggle to get to the 60 minute mark, let along make it to close to 90 minutes…. and Savasana?? What’s that??

For about a week or so now, I’ve tried. I mean really tried. But my head hurts, I’m grouchy and my mind is in a thousand places. And, if I’m doing that on the mat, you can only imagine what the rest of my days have been like!

Then, today, cold (and by cold, I mean freezing!!!), sleepy, headachy, grouchy, I ventured out for lunch and ended up at a Cuban restaurant near my office. Black beans, white rice (after my recent discovery that most yellow rice is made with chicken stock) and plantains. To say I wolfed it all down would be a huge understatement. I was like a Hoover vaccuum.

But, you know what? Since then, my headache disappeared, my sweet-cravings went out the window, and my feeling like I just need something that I can’t put my finger on is gone!

And, best of all, my concentration and energy has been about triple what it was this morning.

So, friends, seriously, as easy as it can be to chalk low energy and overall laissez faire to stress and life, think about the last time you had some good solid protein, and give it a try. It just might make you a much happier person that you – and everyone else – will want to be around!